


It’s not Owen’s Favourite Colour

by SerialObsessor (ibelieveinturtles)



Series: It Could Become a Saga [2]
Category: Torchwood
Genre: Gen, Owen swears, Slime
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-22
Updated: 2016-06-22
Packaged: 2018-07-16 14:57:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,076
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7272727
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ibelieveinturtles/pseuds/SerialObsessor
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>There are consequences to slime!</p>
            </blockquote>





	It’s not Owen’s Favourite Colour

As soon as Owen dropped the keys into Jack's hand he grabbed the pile of towels from Ianto and began to wipe as much of the slime off himself as he could.  
   
"Owen."  
   
The disgust in Jack's voice was obvious to the entire team and the rest of them discreetly drifted in various directions as Owen looked up.  
   
"Next time you decided to drop the car keys, please don't do it in a slime factory, ok?"  
   
Jack dropped his slimy towel at Owen's feet and with the keys in hand strode quickly towards the door.  
   
"Gee, it's not as if I did it on purpose." Owen muttered as he wiped savagely at the sticky goo clinging to his body.  
   
"Oh but Owen, it's such a pretty shade of pink too!" Gwen wasn't trying very hard to hide the amusement in her voice as she watched Owen's struggle.  "I bet you'll be a delightful colour for the next few days if it stains even just a little bit."  
   
Owen half heartedly glowered at Gwen, but he was concentrating so hard on trying to remove the slime that he didn't hear Tosh come up behind him. He jumped as she suddenly appeared next to him wearing gloves and wielding a spatula and vial.  
   
"Hold still Owen, I just want to take a sample of this stuff." she murmured as she scraped some of the slime off his shoulder. "My, will you look at that!" she exclaimed as she held the vial up for inspection.  
   
"Do I have to?" Owen grumbled as he rubbed hard at his arms.  
   
"Well you don't have to but I think you should." Tosh replied sharply as she looked over her shoulder and called to Gwen who had started to wander along the catwalk towards the door. 

"Gwen, come and look at this." She examined the little vial once more before handing it over to Gwen and packing her things back into her bag.  
   
Gwen held the vial up to the light and studied it. "Wow," she said quietly, "this is really something. Owen, I think Tosh is right, you really should have a look at this."  
   
"I think I've already seen enough of it, so thanks, but no thanks." Owen was still struggling with the towels and the goo, making very little progress in his attempts to clean himself up.  
   
"Well I'm going to show it to Jack. You'd better hurry up and get that stuff off if you want to ride back in the SUV, I don't know if Ianto will let you back in like that." Tosh picked up her bag and followed Gwen along the catwalk to the exit.  
   
As they left they passed Ianto who was returning with more towels.  
   
"I don't think just using a towel is going to work." he observed as Owen flung the towel he was using to the floor in frustration. "And don't think you're coming in the car like that either, I only cleaned it yesterday."  
   
"Oh for fuck's sake Ianto, how do you expect me to get back to the hub then? This stuff is stickier than.. than... than something really, REALLY sticky!!" Owen had given up trying to wipe the slime off himself and was now attempting to struggle back into his clothes.  "I need a shower, and I need it NOW!"  
   
Owen kicked the towels aside and minced towards the exit, his clothes clinging to him in all the most uncomfortable places. "I'm hopping into that SUV whether it's clean or not, and as soon as we get back to the hub I'm washing this stuff off properly."  
   
Ianto watched Owen exit the building and then pulled on a pair of gloves and knelt down to gather the dirty towels into the bag he had brought back with him. As he gathered them up he noticed something a bit odd, and after a closer look at the towels, and then a quick glance down into the tank his eyes went wide, and he quickly shoved all the towels into the bag and dashed outside to the SUV.  
   
Outside Jack, Gwen and Tosh were gathered in a tight little group, in what seemed like an intense discussion. Owen was hunched over at the other end of the vehicle, arms tucked into his armpits and a sulky, impatient expression on his face.  
   
"Can we go?" he complained. "It's just that I'm not getting any cleaner hanging around here like this!"  
   
"Hang on Owen." Tosh waved a distracted hand in Owen's direction as she continued her conversation with Jack and Gwen.  
   
"I've never seen anything like it, but I could swear that it looked like perfectly ordinary pink slime in that tank!"  
   
Gwen nodded her agreement, "Nope, there wasn't anything I saw in that tank that indicated there was anything strange in it at all. Except that it was full of bright pink slime."  
   
The three Torchwood members looked up as Ianto came to sudden stop behind them. He held the bag up as he tried to catch his breath.  
   
Jack looked at it cautiously, "What you got there Ianto?"  
   
"Towels... Owen was using... look at them!" he puffed out. "And the tank..."  
   
Jack, Tosh and Gwen looked in the bag, their eyes widening as they saw the state of the towels.  
   
"Owen, come here right now!" Jack ordered as he shoved the bag of towels back at Ianto.  
   
"What now?" Owen moaned as he walked towards Jack. "Can't we just leave?"  
   
"Nope. Open your shirt." Jack instructed.  
   
"What?"  
   
"Open... your... shirt" Jack repeated.  
   
Owen just stood and stared at Jack. "Now what makes you think I'm gonna do that?" he objected.  
   
Jack sighed, "Tosh, show him the sample you took will you please?"  
   
Tosh held up the vial of slime that she had scraped off Owen's shoulder. As he looked at it he gaped in surprise. The vial was glowing, and the slime was now a very sparkly and luminescent shade of extremely bright pink.  
   
"But... it didn't look like that in the tank!" he said desperately. "Oh god, please tell me I'm not bright pink all over!"  
   
Owen ripped open his shirt and then tore his t-shirt off. "Oh my god, I am!!!" he wailed.

“You’re definitely not coming in the car now!” Ianto declared.  
   
Gwen giggled, then sniggered, then doubled over with laughter. "It did stain!  And more than just a little bit too!!"  
   
"I told you so!"  
   
   
~x~x~

**Author's Note:**

> Originally written for the Torchwood Weekly Writing Challenge at http://torchwoodaustralia.com/forum under the name Obsessed, in 2008.
> 
> All the fics I'll be putting up are also on FanFiction.net but are no longer archived at the TWA.


End file.
